


Yankee Doodle Dandy

by eliternat (mirkandmidnight)



Series: Tumblr Prompts! [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, American Revolution, Gen, Military, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 21:10:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7377502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirkandmidnight/pseuds/eliternat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man at the end of Claremont Street is a conundrum. Luckily, Rey is in the business of solving conundrums.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yankee Doodle Dandy

Rey doesn't know the name of the man at the end of the street, which is odd, because she knows everything else about his life but his name. He's the only reason she lives on Claremont Street at all. 

Here is what Rey knows about the man who lives at the end of Claremont Street. Every Friday, at precisely 7 o clock, he walks out his door and down to Mr. Dameron's printing shop, holding a thick packet of papers. She knows that on Tuesday and Thursday, General Hux of the British army stands outside his door for at least ten minutes trying to get the man to invite him in. She knows that the man at the end of the street never does. 

She knows that there are scars on his back that he never talks about, even when they're hurting him. (She can tell that they're hurting him because he walks differently; he walks more gingerly.) She knows that he always smiles at her when he passes her on the street, and that even though the Revolution has been on for three years, he hasn't volunteered for the Minutemen or been conscripted by the Loyalists. 

Rey knows that in two days, she'll be asked to send a report on this man to General Organa about whether or not he's a spy for the Loyalists, and she doesn't know what she's going to say. He doesn't seem like a spy, but then again, you never can tell. No one could have predicted that General Organa's own son would have accepted a commission for the British, but there he is on every battlefield, wielding his bayonet like retribution.

Then again, the only thing out of the ordinary about this man is how Hux seems to hang around him, but never gains any ground. So this man must have some reluctance to fall in with Hux's lot, at the very least. It's something, but it won't be enough for Organa. And it's not as if Rey's afraid of her commanding officer, but she really, really doesn't want to mess this up.

This in mind, she decides to break into the man's house.

It's an idiotic idea and she knows it, but she's running out of time and she knows his schedule enough that he probably won't catch her.

Most likely.

Rey waits until the cover of darkness, when the man from the end of the street goes out drinking with Poe Dameron, then walks confidently into his back garden and scours the outside of his house for any possible entrance point. 

The back window isn't shuttered tightly, so she pries it open and slips through, then takes a moment to orient herself in the dark house. She appears to be in a bedroom right now, one that's lined with bookshelves. Someone's forgotten to blow out the lamp before they left. Rey picks it up and begins to move through the house, looking for anything that might give her an idea of the man's loyalties.

She quickly finds the man's study, which looks promising. His desk has about three locked drawers that she can see at first glance, but Rey's willing to bet that there's more if she just keeps searching. 

Rey reaches up her sleeve for her lock picks and kneels to start on the drawers. If the man has anything interesting, it's bound to be in one of these drawers. After a moment of work, the lock clicks open and she pulls the drawer out. It's filled with stacks of paper bound in twine. She takes the top stack out and undoes the twine. This could be it!

Someone clears their throat, and she yelps, almost dropping the lantern. Rey peers over the top of the desk, and standing in the doorway is the man from the end of Claremont Street. 

“What are you doing in my house?” he asks.

“Um,” Rey says.

He folds his arms over his chest. “Why are you in my desk?”

She picks up the packet of papers and stands. “Uh.”

“I'm waiting.”

Well, then. Rey decides to just have out with it. He's not going to let her leave until he gets an explanation, and if this turns out badly, she's probably faster than he is. “I'm investigating you to see if you're a British sympathizer.”

“I'm not,” he says, looking more confused by the moment.

She brandishes the sheaf of paper. “Well, I'll just have a look at these, and see what they tell me. Maybe you've been leaking information to the British army.”

He narrows his eyes. “I really haven't been. That's actually information I was planning on passing on to the Minutemen.”

Oh. Well, then. Rey bites her lip. “Then why is General Hux always here trying to talk to you?”

The man unfolds his arms. “You really have been keeping close tabs on me, haven't you? I used to work for the British army, but I deserted two months ago, taking some information with me. He wants it back, and he wants to know how much of it I've told to the Minutemen.” He holds out his hand. “I'm Finn, by the way.”

She takes it. “Rey. Sorry about breaking into your house. My commanding officer wanted a report, and I was getting a little desperate.” She tilts her head. “I don't suppose you'd be interested in coming over to our side? You've already made an enemy of the British, and we could probably use someone with your inside knowledge.”

Finn considers it for a long moment, looking upwards. He's not a bad looking man, Rey realizes. She'd never really thought about it, given that her job was to collect information on him and not ogle him. But his eyes were quite nice, and she knew he was kind.

“Sounds like it could be interesting,” he says. “I'll do it.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fic prompt on my tumblr sent in by a friendly anon, so I hope they enjoy it.


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